Euro Cyclocross Update – Part 1

Paul Aubrey

Cyclocross has gained an enormous following in Australia throughout the past year. Race organisers such as Dirty Deeds CX, Trailmix, Port Adelaide, Illawarra and Ipswich cycling clubs have been doing a tremendous job at growing the scene and it's only getting bigger.

For those of you already hooked on cross you’ll already have been closely watching the European race calendar, but I think it’s worth providing some updates for those of you who aren’t intently following it. My apologies in advance for dumbing this down so that more than just the hardcore fans can get up to speed.

Euro Calendar

As far as the significant races go, there are three different series each containing eight races: the World Cups, The GvA Trophy, and the Superprestige. So far this season there have been three World Cups (Plzen, Tabor and Koksijde), one GvA Trophy race (Koppenbergcross), and five Superprestiges that have taken place so far. You can see the full calendar and up-to-date results below:

The Contenders

This is really easy. You basically need to remember five riders to know all the top names of Cyclocross: Sven Nys, Zdenek Stybar, Kevin Pauwels and Niels Albert. Oh, and we can’t forget about Jeremy Powers and Jonathan Page, the lone Americans having a crack. No Aussies in there yet, but just wait five years…

In the first of a three part series throughout the season, local CX nut Paul Aubrey is going to bring us up to speed on what’s happening in the Euro cross scene as well as a few of the technical details. By the end of this post you’ll be hooked.

Euro Cyclocross Update Part 1

by Paul Aubrey

Here at CyclingTips we are going to take some time to examine some of the critical factors of a cyclocross race. This is the first part of our coverage of the 2011-2012 European cyclocross season.

The Start

The start is vital in ‘cross, much like mountain biking it’s a drag race off the line to get the hole-shot into the first corner. Don’t worry, the corner will not be too tight, the UCI manual states that the decisive first corner must not be more than 90 degrees. With this in mind you can understand that being on the front row is advantageous; it just doesn’t help if the cameraman is still in the way when the gun goes. For the record Niels Albert in the Belgian National Champion kit “recovered” to finish 8th in the Plzen World Cup.

So how do you actually get on the front row of the start grid? Riders are ranked based on the number of UCI points that they have accrued. That being said, to even make it to the start line for a World Cup, you need to be selected by your national federation. Each nation has a limit of 8 spots plus the World Champion and/or World Cup leader. This explains why the field is usually less than 100 riders, with only 8 or 9 Belgian on the start line. This is much more civilised than MTB World Cups that have seen 200 plus riders fighting it out on the start loop. Once the gun has gone and the leaders have made it through the first corner. The first lap is typically really quick, to string the field out in single file. Usually the select lead group forms.

Plzen World Cup – Czech Republic

In the first round of the UCI World Cup in Plzen on October 16th, natural attrition slowly saw the lead group whittled down after multiple attacks from the heads of state. Going into the last lap it was World Champion Zdenek Stybar, Kevin Pauwels and Sven Nys at the front of the race. It was looking like coming down to a sprint finish.

So what would be the tactics for a small group to contest the finish? The important considerations for the Plzen course are that the stairs are within the last 200m and the final corner is 100 metres out from the line. If I were in the lead group, I would want to be the first rider onto the stairs.

Now back to the racing. In the closing stages of the last lap Nys jumped from third wheel to lead the group into a hairpin. Stybar asserted control and lead the group into the stairs, he looked over this shoulder to assess the damage. There was none. At the top Nys was marginally quicker back onto the bike, he dived through the door left ajar by Stybar. Nys was the first rider out of the last corner and won the sprint comfortably. Looking at the finish retrospectively, it was interesting that Nys choose to sprint from the left to right hand side of the road.

1. Sven Nys

2. Kevin Pauwels

3. Zdenek Stybar

4. Francis Mourey

5. Klaas Vantornout

Tabor World Cup – Czech Republic

A week later, the elite field lined up for the second World Cup at Tabor. Local hero and World Champion Zdenek Stybar was the crowd favourite. Tabor was an extremely fast race, once the gap opened it was game over.

Kevin Pauwels rode a brilliant race riding the last 6 laps off the front, slowly extending his advantage. Early in the race he featured in an attack with Stybar, who at this time flatted for the second time. The simple action of Stybar changing bikes left Kevin out in front to ride away to victory.

It wasn’t Stybar day; he ended up making two bike changes after flats, which probably cost him victory. Unlike crit racing you can’t have a lap out with a mechanical; you need to ride into the pits to make a bike change.

In the women’s race Katerina Nash who also races as a mountain biker deserves a special mention for a home win at Tabor.

1. Kevin Pauwels

2. Zdenek Stybar

3. Klaas Vantornout

4. Francis Mourey

5. Sven Nys

Equipment Selection and Preparation

The first Superprestige round in Ruddervoorde on October 9th was an education in preparation. Dropped chains ruined Nys’ race. I will make the bold statement; the inability to recover from such a situation without stopping is a function of DI2. This is based on observations of my only riding buddy with DI2, even with a friendly push along he is unable to recover from a dropped chain without stopping or at least taking your hands off the bars. A chain catcher such as those make by K-edge easily solves the problem. I personally endorse this product, after four years use I have never had an unrecoverable dropped chain.

Another amusing mechanical issue was Niels Albert who complained that his pedal tension was too tight. Which, I may hazard a guess was a result of not doing a warm up lap on the race bike. It was easily fixed but took a few laps to tell the mechanic, change bikes and change back to the preferred bike. At least he took personal responsibility for the issue and didn’t blame his mechanic.

GVA Trofee – Koppenbergcross – Belgium

GvA Trofee – Koppenbergcross (in Aussie, the Antwerp Gazette Trophy) is one of my favourite races of the season. The circuit features the cobbled climb of the Koppenberg and some gnarly off camber paddock sections, which saw even the world’s best riders tripoding through the switchbacks.

The Koppenbergcross was a great case study for the importance of tyre selection. When the rain started to fall both Stybar and Nys choose to swap bikes mid race to roll on what they thought to be the suitable Rhino tread pattern. This proved to be a costly decision for both as they really struggled after the bike change; it simply wasn’t muddy enough. Both sacrificed cornering confidence for advantage in the mud that didn’t eventuate. Pauwels took victory from Nys and Stybar. Nys was trying to go one better than Lance and take 8 consecutive Koppenbergcross’.

1. Kevin Pauwels

2. Sven Nys

3. Zdenek Stybar

4. Bart Aernouts

5. Tom Meeusen

The Rhino is the mud tread pattern from Dugast’s tubular range. Pretty much the entire cross elite ride Dugast, whether branded or not. As the story goes, J-Pow (Jeremy Powers for all of you who haven’t seen Behind the Barriers) insisted on riding Dugast when he joined the Rapha-Focus team this year. The team isn’t sponsored, they choose to buy them. In case you need another example of how amazing Dugast tubular must be (I say must be, as I have never ridden them myself), Maxxis sponsored MTBer come ‘cross rider Geoff Kabush has Dugast custom make tubulars for him based on his Maxxis tread patterns.

Skills of a ‘Cross Rider

Cyclo cross is somewhere between road racing and mountain biking. Lars Boom is one of the few ‘cross riders who has successfully made the transition to the road. Racing in the off-season obviously has its challenges.

I remember watching footage of Paris Roubaix from the early 2000’s. Sven Nys, then riding for Rabobank, featured at the front of the bunch as they raced through the Trouée d’Arenberg. He was up there with the best of the roadies but lacked the endurance to feature in the finale. Fast forward to 2009 and I was able to see Nys riding up close at the World MTB Champs in Canberra. Nys got a great start and was up in the top 5 for the first hour of the race but faded to 14th. He rode the extremely technical sections but was nowhere near as smooth as the likes of Nino Schurter and Julien Absalon.

Now throw Nys onto the sand dunes of Koksidje and you have a completely different story; it is the domain of the ‘cross specialist. Last weekend, Koksidje was the venue for the third World Cup of the season. It will also host the World Championships in January on the same course.

Koksidje World Cup – Belgium – Race Summary

Saturday’s racing was simply amazing. The display of raw power when riding the sand was a sight to behold. Each lap the riders would fight for the critical position of being first wheel into the sandpit. The major selection of the race was when Nys managed to ride the entire major sand pit. Rather than taking the low line he started high a dropped down when he lost momentum. Instantly he had a huge gap over Pauwels, Aeernouts and Stybar who were off and running. (1hr 6mins in full race replay) On the final sand pit, Pauwels capitalized on a Nys mistake and closed the gap by the end of the section. As is frequently the case in ‘cross, small mistakes can be very costly, however this time both mistakes seemed to cancel out and Pauwels and Nys were together for a sprint finish.

That Sprint Finish

The finish in Koksidje is best described as controversial. As he did in Plzen, Nys started his sprint on the left hand side of the road and ended up on the right. Watch the footage and draw your own conclusion. The sprint starts at 1hr 24 min into the replay and racing starts at 21minutes.

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